Page 94 of The Devil In Denim
“They are.” “They,” not “we.” She swallowed, glad of her own sunglasses, shielding her eyes from Ollie’s gaze.
“So why aren’t you?” He was jogging in place too, reminding her, as always, of a greyhound, all lean body and sleek charm and long limbs.
She paused, wondering what she wanted to tell Ollie. He was her friend but he was also a Saints player. She didn’t want them knowing about Sutter’s offer to her until she’d decided what she was going to do about it.
“I wanted to clear my head, came down for a walk.”
“It’s a long way for a walk,” he said.
Busted. She was halfway back to her place.
“So?” She shrugged and started walking again, needing to move before the wind, which was picking up, froze her in place.
“So, I’m guessing this has to do with Sutter offering you a job,” Ollie said as he fell into step beside her.
Maggie halted with a jerk. “What do you mean?”
“He did, didn’t he? Offered you the Saints?”
“How do you know that?”
“He told me.”
She stared up at him. “What are you doing talking to Will Sutter?”
“Maggie, he’s talking to all of us. Making offers.”
Crap. Of course he was. Though damn, if he’d moved on from going through agents to calling players directly, he was upping his game already. “He told you he’d made me an offer?”
Ollie nodded. “I told him the Saints were likely to side with you, and he said he was making you an offer we’d all be happy with.”
Double crap. How many others of the team had Will told? Triple crap. Just as well she’d come clean with Alex or he’d be hearing it thirdhand by now.
“Will Sutter has a big mouth.”
Ollie grinned. “Big checkbook too.”
“How much did he offer?” she asked. She hadn’t grilled Sutter on exactly how much he was willing to pump into the Saints. In retrospect, that was a dumb move. A mistake Alex wouldn’t have made. Mega crap. Maybe he was right. Maybe she wasn’t ready for this.
“Triple my current package in the first year. Escalating from there.”
There was no way the Saints could offer anything like that much. Not unless Alex and Mal and Lucas wanted to start throwing more of their own funds into the coffers. And she knew their plan was to fix the immediate problems and work on building the team, not just try to buy their way out of trouble. Which Sutter obviously knew too. “And?”
“Well, I told him I’d think about it. How about you?”
“The same.” She started walking again.
“How did Winters take that?” Ollie asked.
“It’s not his decision.”
“You didn’t tell him?”
“I told him.”
“Ah. I guess that explains what you’re doing out here then. Banished, are you?”
“He’s giving me time to make up my mind,” Maggie said. “Until then, it’s only sensible that I don’t know what’s happening from his perspective.”
